---
title: Ecclesiastes 5:12 (JPS 1917) — There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, ri… · tree and pragmatics
description: There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept by the owner thereof to his hurt; Who acts: grievous evil, I, evil. Ecclesiastes 5:12 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ecclesiastes 5:12 · JPS 1917

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There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept by the owner thereof to his hurt;

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**Who acts:** grievous evil, I, evil · **What happens:** be, see, keep, hurt · **To what, where:** grievous evil, sun, riches

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This is Ecclesiastes 5:12 · JPS 1917 in the English of the Jewish Publication Society's 1917 translation, from Mova's open Bible corpus. The page gives the sentence's syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies, parsed by Mova and checked by a teacher model — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (grievous evil, I, evil), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it. The original of the verse links back to its own tree and to the Targum.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = jps:ECC:103
# text = There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept by the owner thereof to his hurt;
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	grievous	grievous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	evil	evil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	obj	_	_
7	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	5	acl:relcl	_	_
10	under	under	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	namely	namely	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
16	riches	rich	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	appos	_	_
17	kept	keep	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	acl	_	_
18	by	by	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	owner	owner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl:agent	_	_
21	thereof	thereof	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
22	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	hurt	hurt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
25	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | present | a grievous evil |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **see** | present · perfect | I | a grievous evil |  | the sun |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer which=Stimulus |
| 3 | **keep** | participle |  | riches *not said here* |  |  |  | to evil's hurt | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **hurt** |  | evil |  |  |  |  |  | nom hurt «state intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

## The Hebrew of this verse {#hebrew}

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יֵ֚שׁ רָעָ֣ה חוֹלָ֔ה רָאִ֖יתִי תַּ֣חַת הַשָּׁ֑מֶשׁ עֹ֛שֶׁר שָׁמ֥וּר לִבְעָלָ֖יו לְרָעָתֽוֹ׃

[Ecclesiastes 5:12: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.5.12/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:ECC:103` of Mova's parse database.

**The tree and the speech act** come from Mova's cycle: the small model's draft, read by a large model as teacher, passed by Mova's gates (Elamur Cosmic License). **The frames** are read from the tree by Mova's frames reader (`prag`) when this page is built, the chapter read in order, so a pronoun may be resolved from an earlier sentence of the chapter.

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